I dunno… I know this asks specifically about hand sanitizer causing superbugs but I feel like concern for personal health and hygiene is implied here. So how about it? Can sanitizing our hands, homes, shopping carts, etc. make one MORE prone to catch a “bug”? My basic knowledge of how the immune system functions says, maybe?
The immune system is complex and far from fully understood.
We know that if you are immersed in an environment that is truly full of pathogens your risk of infection goes up. We also know that if you live in a sterile environment you lose some of your resistance to pathogens which may not be a problem if you remain in the environment but could be if you encounter something new. There’s probably a happy medium somewhere in between, between your system being overwhelmed and not being stimulated enough.
One thing that is known for sure is that washing your hands a lot, particularly before eating or grooming yourself (in other words, don’t touch your face with dirty hands), really does reduce the risk of infection and illness. It’s not getting your hands dirty that makes you ill, it’s allowing your hands to transfer stuff to your vulnerable orifices like your nose, mouth, and eyes.
So, to the extent that sanitizing your environment keeps Bad Stuff off your hands, making it less likely to transfer to your orifices, it helps reduce illness. But if you sanitize, sanitize, sanitize then don’t properly wash your hands or get careless handling raw meat (as an example) then it doesn’t help.
Most hand sanitizers are alcohol based, no way are bacteria going to evolve a resistance to it. It would be like humans evolving a resistance to fire.
With sufficient exposure, we might evolve into balrogs.
And, the column being referenced is Is paper money dirty? Plus: Do hand sanitizers cause superbugs?. A link helps people follow along.